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Here we discuss how personal carbon allowances (PCAs) could play a role in achieving ambitious climate mitigation targets. We argue that recent advances in AI for sustainable development, together with the need for a low-carbon recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, open a new window of opportunity for PCAs. Furthermore, we present design principles based on the Sustainable Development Goals for the future adoption of PCAs. We conclude that PCAs could be trialled in selected climate-conscious technologically advanced countries, mindful of potential issues around integration into the current policy mix, privacy concerns and distributional impacts. Personal carbon allowances (PCAs) could support climate mitigation efforts but would need to be carefully designed to avoid impacts on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This Perspective discusses why the time is ripe for reconsidering PCAs and provides a set of SDG-based design principles for the future adoption of PCAs.

This paper addresses the costs and benefits associated with microgrid development relative to the costs and benefits of conventional generation interconnected to a bulk transmission and distribution grid. The costs and benefits are classified as: environmental (avoided environmental damage costs); economic (mainly employment multiplier effects); deferral or avoidance of transmission and distribution investment costs; and greater access to electricity supply that is highly reliable and resilient. Deficiencies due to the lack of relevant available data and of research on economic modeling of microgrids at the societal level are discussed. The context in which these costs and benefits are measured is the Israeli electricity market, which features a highly centralized, vertically integrated electricity company (Israel Electric Corporation, IEC) with some legacy distribution companies. Moreover, because Israel’s transmission and distribution infrastructure investment have declined significantly over the past several years, the Israeli market provides a useful basis for analyses of microgrids as an alternative to such large-scale investments. The analysis reveals that under reasonable assumptions reflecting the current state of microgrid technologies, microgrids may constitute a viable, cost-effective alternative to additional central- station generation requiring new investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure. Specifically, using reasonable assumptions regarding 10-MW incremental investments in a microgrid and in central-station generation with necessary transmission and distribution investments, the analysis indicates that, when considering the reliability, T&D investment deferral, local economic, environmental, and social costs and benefits of each alternative, the net benefits to the Israeli economy from selecting the incremental 10-MW investment in a representative Israeli microgrid may exceed $13,000,000 per year. However, when local economic benefits are not considered, the net benefits decline to approximately $260,000 per year. For perspective, generation capacity additions by the Israel Electric Corporation have averaged 166 MW from 2008 through 2018, reaching 13,775 MW of installed capacity by the end of 2018. Total annual capital investment has averaged approximately $1 billion since 2015, about $400 million of which has been in the generation sector. The paper concludes with future research directions, with an emphasis on integrating engineering analysis, scenario simulation, flexibility, and quantifying social/equity (“fairness”) effects of microgrids.

Obstacles to collaborative public health frameworks such as Health in All Policies continue to emerge. Partnership-based public health programs present opportunities to study how public servants and practitioners address these barriers in real time. To this end, we utilized “Middle-Out,” a socio-technical analytical approach that highlights the importance of Middle Actors-stakeholders positioned between policymakers and grassroots—to policy diffusion, innovation and collaboration in public health. We conducted participatory observation in administrative settings of Israel’s National Program to Promote Active, Healthy Lifestyle, 30 stakeholder interviews and document analysis. We examined two dimensions of impact from the Middle-Out: Directions of Influence—Middle-Up, Middle-Down and Sideways, and Modes of Influence—Enabling, Mediating and Aggregating. Through Middle-Out’s lens, our analysis transcends visible benchmarks such as legislation and macro-level resource-allocation, focusing, instead, on elusive administrative spaces within which Middle Actors shape policies, steer funding and facilitate continuity. Incorporating Middle-Out into public health’s conceptual toolbox, we conclude, can improve understanding of complex public health policy arenas, increase recognition of critical socio-technical changemakers and catalyze more effective design of policy tools and strategies that specifically harness Middle Actors’ strengths and qualities.

Microgrids are now emerging from lab benches and pilot demonstration sites into commercial markets, driven by technological improvements, falling costs, a proven track record, and growing recognition of their benefits. They are being used to improve reliability and resilience of electrical grids, to manage the addition of distributed clean energy resources like wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) generation to reduce fossil fuel emissions, and to provide electricity in areas not served by centralized electrical infrastructure. This review article (1) explains what a microgrid is, and (2) provides a multi-disciplinary portrait of today's microgrid drivers, real-world applications, challenges, and future prospects.

The European Commission envisages smart home technology (SHT) as reducing energy costs and simplifying consumer engagement in a low-carbon-energy retail market without inconveniencing them. With consumers’ consent, SHT allows continuous seamless interaction between the home and the smart grid, offering the grid ongoing demand flexibility resources for reshaping the demand curve. This study assesses perceptions of a nontechnophobic segment of the Israeli public (N = 554) regarding demand flexibility and energy management through SHT. Sociodemographic variables, personality traits, and attitudes toward smart homes and demand flexibility through SHT were examined as predictors of consumers’ interest in adopting a smart home and in demand flexibility through SHT. In a hierarchical linear regression model, gender, income, openness to experience, and positive and negative attitudes toward SHT explained 64.4% of the variance in interest in smart homes. Age, openness to experience, a positive attitude toward smart homes, and perceived benefits of demand flexibility explained 31.4% of the variance in interest in demand flexibility through SHT. Regarding respondents’ willingness to allow SHT to manage appliances, dishwashers scored the highest and refrigerators, the lowest. Findings indicate that prospective adopters value the perceived benefits of comfort and convenience over risks associated with smart home technology.

Technological advances allow electricity consumers to become ‘prosumers’, offering services to the grid, such as generation, demand reduction, load shifting and electricity storage. Well-integrated prosumers improve the resilience and efficiency of the energy system and facilitate the integration of renewable energy, improving energy and climate security. These technologies, however, change how energy services are experienced. Understanding public perceptions is necessary prior to widespread introduction. A 2015 survey (n = 509) investigated perceptions of demand reduction, load shifting and energy storage technologies as prosumer activities in Israel. Israelis showed little interest in remote controlled household appliances to facilitate load shifting, preferring to respond personally via smart controls to information communicated by the grid. There was similar low interest in permitting grid access to electricity stored in personal electric vehicle batteries. Financial incentives increased acceptance in both cases to a third of respondents. The survey identified various barriers to acceptance: health and privacy concerns about smart meters; low trust in the institutions overseeing these technologies; perceived low public support to reduce electricity demand; how incentives were framed and no perceived relationship with meeting national energy priorities such as affordability and energy independence. The young and the observant Jewish community showed greatest acceptance of new technologies.

The residential sector's electricity consumption during peak hours is significant. Reducing it would be valuable in economic and environmental terms, particularly for isolated grids and ‘electricity islands'. While time-of-use (TOU) programs could help moderate this demand, in many countries such programs are voluntary, with low enrollment rates. An experimental survey design was used to test the impact of four framings of a residential TOU program on the stated willingness of 452 large Israeli households (four or more people) to enroll in a TOU program. Two of the framings emphasized the economic benefits of the program, and offered 25% and 50% off-peak discount rates. The other two framings highlighted environmental benefits and national energy independence (in addition to the discount). The impact of socio-demographic variables, demand flexibility, convenience, environmental awareness and interest in automation were also evaluated. While no framing effect was found, a hierarchical regression model (R2 = 66%) revealed that the strongest predictor of interest in enrollment is the perception that the TOU program will contribute to the environment and to the county's energy independence, followed by the potential economic benefits to the household and flexibility of demand. None of the socio-demographic variables was a predictor. The results suggest that highlighting national benefits might be more effective than highlighting household benefits in fostering enrollment in TOU programs.

The middle-out perspective (MOP) is a relatively new analytical perspective that provides a unique lens to examine the impact of middle actors on action, inaction, change, and stagnation. This research explores the middle-out mechanism and is the first to intersect the various components of the MOP: directions of influence (upwards, downward, and sideways), modes of influence (aggregating, mediating, and enabling), and actors' levels of agency (interest and willingness to act) and capacity (ability to act). The study focuses on one middle actor: Meshek Renewables (MR), an entrepreneurial company in the Israeli energy arena. Through a detailed intersectional analysis, the roles that MR fills in overcoming barriers to transition in two domains are examined: (1) decarbonizing the transport system, and (2) increasing the share of PV in the electricity generation mix. The analysis demonstrates how, by using its assets and resources, MR raised other top, bottom, and middle actors' interest in implementing new energy technologies and improved their abilities to integrate low-carbon energy solutions and promote electric vehicles. Understanding the middle-out mechanism contributes to recognizing the qualities and assets middle-actors need to effectively overcome barriers to action associated with other actors' agency and capacity.

A field study of 50 households in a collective community in Israel provides initial support for the hypotheses about the relations between actors’ agency, capacity and electricity demand reduction. ‘Agency’ refers to actors’ willingness and ability to make their own free choices and ‘capacity’ refers to actors’ ability to perform the choices they made. According to the hypotheses, change is more likely to happen when actors’ levels of agency and capacity are high; unlikely to happen when the levels are low and uncertain when there is a mismatch between levels of agency and capacity (one is high and the other low). In the research, levels of agency and capacity regarding 11 energy saving actions were self-reported and electricity consumption was metered before and during energy saving campaign. Findings show that levels of agency were lower than those of capacity for no-cost actions which require high engagement, while levels of capacity were lower than those of agency for high-cost action which require low engagement. In addition, households with high agency and high capacity reduced their electricity consumption by 9.39 % (on average); those with low agency and low capacity increased their consumption by 6.67 %; and those with a mismatch between agency and capacity reduced their consumption by 1.91 %.

In a first of its kind, controlled field study, a middle-out strategy (MOS) was developed and applied in an aim to shave mid-week summer peak demand. The MOS focuses on middle actors as agents that can induce change from the middle-out, exerting influence via their networks in three directions: downstream (on end-users), upstream (on suppliers and regulators) and sideways (on other communities). The study was conducted in the summer of 2018 in two Israeli local communities (n = 66, n =258 households) and focused on the downstream impact. In both communities: (a) demand was monitored via smart meters, (b) generic and tailored text messages were sent twice a week during peak hours, and (c) economic incentive was offered to households that either saved 10% of their electricity during peak hours compared to the previous year, or 10% in August 2018 compared to July 2018. In one community, an additional four engagement activities took place. All interventions were mediated through local middle actors and middle platforms and differed in the level of the middle actors’ involvement. Additional data was collected via survey and interviews. A downstream impact was demonstrated when about one-third of the participating households reduced their peak consumption by 10%, with an average reduction of 4.5–6%. A sideways impact was indicated when middle actors from similar communities expressed an interest in conducting such a project in the future. An upstream impact was indicated when a significant actor in the electricity sector expressed an interest in supporting similar future projects.

PCT at EU and International Level 1. Personal Carbon Trading in the Context of the EU Emission Trading Scheme 2. PCT in Different National Contexts PCT at a National Level 3. The Economics of Personal Carbon Trading: a Review 4. The Interaction of Existing and Proposed Economic Instruments and Personal Carbon Trading Schemes 5. Barriers to Personal Carbon Trading in the Policy Arena 6. Policing Carbon: Design and Enforcement Options for Personal Carbon Trading PCT and Individuals, Communities and Organisations 7. Effects of Personal Carbon Allowances on Decision-Making: Evidence from an Experimental Simulation 8. Social Acceptability of Personal Carbon Allowances: Findings from a Mixed-method Study PCT Variants - Brief Contributions 9a. Upstream, Downstream 9b. An Upstream Alternative to Personal Carbon Trading

This paper concentrates on ‘middles’ and ‘middle actors’ in energy systems and introduces a “middle-out” framework for examining and supporting systemic change to a lower carbon society. We propose this “middle-out” approach as a complement to “top-down” and “bottom-up” strategies. Our approach suggests that two essential elements for successful systemic change are actors’ agency and capacity, where ‘agency’ refers to actors’ abilities to make their own free choices, and ‘capacity’ refers to actors’ abilities to perform the choices they made. We argue that due to their position between top and bottom actors and between technology and implementation, middle actors play crucial functions in the transition process. Their abilities are based to their own agency and capacity which they can exercise to influence the agency and/or capacity of other actors. The paper discusses middle actors vis-a-vis ‘intermediaries’ and demonstrates the value of the middle-out approach. Through elaborated examples of three middle actors – congregations, building professionals, and commercial building communities – it shows how middles exert influence upstream (to top actors), downstream (to bottom actors) and sideways (to other middle actors) through mediating, enabling and aggregating both themselves and others. A few weaknesses of this approach are discussed as well.

The transition to a low-carbon society is imperative to climate change mitigation and requires cross-sectoral action at multiple levels. A growing literature emphasizes local action, but less is written about scaling up action at a county level. Combining three analytical perspectives – transition theory, strategic niche management and the middle-out – we examine the evolution and scaling up of local community-scale carbon action in Oxfordshire county. Our analysis is based on four local-level research projects. By identifying the roles and strategies of local actors in the development and scaling up of low carbon innovation and action, we conclude that local meso-level actors are crucial for catalyzing initial stages of county-level transitions, but limited in their capacity to scale up low-carbon innovation.

Traditional literature and policy approach to energy security focus on the security of energy supply. It is argued here that a supply-centric approach to energy security is too narrow to account for the complex nature of energy systems and tends to overlook energy users, their expectations from, interaction with and roles in future low carbon energy systems. From users’ point of view, be they households, businesses or governments, the supply of kWh or oil barrels is often meaningless. What matters is not the source of energy, but rather the services provided by it. Therefore, securing energy services seems to be the public and the government’s concern, and the security of supply is only one mean to achieving it. Stemming from science, technology and society studies, this discussion paper suggests that applying a multi-level socio-technical and user-oriented perspectives which focus on the energy services and considers also psychological, social and cultural aspects of energy consumption, could reveal new and overlooked actors, roles, means and strategies that may provide and contribute to energy services security.Keywords: energy security, energy services, socio-technical systems

One of the many barriers to the incorporation of local and community actors in emerging energy governance structures and policy delivery mechanisms is the lack of thorough understanding of how they work in practice, and how best to support and develop effective local energy governance. Taking a meso-level perspective and a network approach to governance, this paper sheds some new light on this issue, by focusing on the relation, channels of communication and interactions between low carbon community groups (LCCGs) and other actors. Based on data gathered from LCCGs in Oxfordshire, UK, via network survey and interviews the research maps the relations in terms of the exchanges of information and financial support, and presents a relation-based structure of local energy governance. Analysis reveals the intensity of energy related information exchanges that is taking place at the county level and highlights the centrality of intermediary organization in facilitating information flow. The analysis also identifies actors that are not very dominant in their amount of exchanges, but fill ‘weak-tie’ functions between otherwise disconnected LCCGs or other actors in the network. As an analytical tool the analysis could be useful for various state and non-state actors that want to better understand and support – financially and otherwise – actors that enable energy related local action.

A ‘middle-out’ perspective is used to investigate potential roles for professionals and practitioners in creating societal change. Social and technological innovations are commonly seen as either being induced from the ‘top-down’ or evolving from the ‘bottom-up.’ Instead, a ‘middle-out’ perspective focuses on agents of change that are located in the middle, between the top and the bottom. This perspective shows that middle actors can affect change in several different directions: upstream, downstream and sideways. By linking the top and bottom more explicitly, this approach is both an alternative and complementary to ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ efforts to implementing low-carbon innovations and practices in society. One particular kind of ‘middle’ in the built environment is explored: the role of building professionals to encourage (or discourage) societal change. Focusing on the demand side of the energy system, case studies of building professionals in the domestic and non-domestic sectors are used to em...

Prosumers are agents that both consume and produce energy. With the growth in small and medium-sized agents using solar photovoltaic panels, smart meters, vehicle-to-grid electric automobiles, home batteries and other ‘smart’ devices, prosuming offers the potential for consumers and vehicle owners to re-evaluate their energy practices. As the number of prosumers increases, the electric utility sector of today is likely to undergo significant changes over the coming decades, offering possibilities for greening of the system, but also bringing many unknowns and risks that need to be identified and managed. To develop strategies for the future, policymakers and planners need knowledge of how prosumers could be integrated effectively and efficiently into competitive electricity markets. Here we identify and discuss three promising potential prosumer markets related to prosumer grid integration, peer-to-peer models and prosumer community groups. We also caution against optimism by laying out a series of caveats and complexities.

A comparative experiment in the UK examined people's willingness to change energy consumption behavior under three different policy framings: energy tax, carbon tax, and personal carbon allowances (PCA). PCA is a downstream cap-and-trade policy proposed in the UK, in which emission rights are allocated to individuals. We hypothesized that due to economic, pro-environmental and mental accounting drivers PCA would have greater potential to deliver emissions reduction than taxation. Participants (n = 1,096) received one version of a survey with the same energy-behavior–related questions and identical incurred costs under one of the following framings: energy tax (where carbon was not mentioned), carbon tax, and PCA. Results suggest that policies that draw people's attention to carbon (PCA and carbon taxation) could have greater impact on their stated willingness to reduce energy consumption, and on the reduction amounts prompted, than would a non-overt price signal (energy tax). There is mixed evidence, however, as to whether PCA or carbon taxation would produce the largest energy demand reductions. Some indication was found for a spillover toward wider carbon conservation under the PCA framing. © 2011 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

An example of a potential carbon allowance card. Personal carbon trading (PCT) is an innovative, radical policy approach to climate mitigation. PCT is a general term for various policies that were ...

Theories of the policy process are used to identify existing and possible future barriers to personal carbon trading (PCT) in the political and policy arenas. PCT is a policy invention, i.e. a poli...

The environmental impact of the rising consumption of bottled water is over 100 times higher than drinking tap water, so its rise has grave implications for the environment and society. This article argues that the increasing flight from drinking tap water is at least partly the result of the growing distrust of the state's ability to protect the health of its citizens. This distrust snowballs through several stages in the process by which policy is designed and carried out. Bottled water firms contribute subtly to this distrust and weakening of public policy responses. The article suggests that some institutional and procedural changes are needed to restore trust, such as proactive public involvement in the problem analysis procedures, increased transparency at the enforcement stage, better science communication, public display of trust in tap water by officials, and labelling on bottled water about its environmental impacts.

Israel's air quality is poorer than that of most European countries. Despite this, Israel's industrial emissions to the air are not governed by an overall legislation, but instead are controlled by a voluntary agreement—a covenant—between the industrialists and the Ministry of the Environment. Why did the Ministry of the Environment opt for a covenant as a means of regulating industrial emissions rather than legislation? This paper uses the Policy Process Networks framework, which focuses on the role that different state and non-state actors play in the policy process, and on the network's institutional setting, to analyse and explain how this policy was formed. It also explores why the policy's implementation and enforcement are limited. By forming the covenant, the Ministry was able to gain better control over emissions. Yet, as a result, important actors like environmental NGOs, independent experts, the judiciary and the public, were excluded from decision-making forums and had only minor infl...

In 1998 the European Union (EU) revised its Drinking Water Directive, which is responsible for regulating the quality of water in the EU intended for human consumption. Specifically, the EU added a new standard for the element boron in drinking water (1 mg/l). Yet, because of scientific uncertainty concerning the causes and magnitude of the boron problem in Europe during the regulatory standard-setting process, we find that full compliance with the new drinking water standard for boron has been hampered. Prior to the standard’s enactment, it was unclear whether boron was derived from natural or anthropogenic sources. A new geochemical study reveals that a significant part of the boron contamination is derived from natural sources. Countries such as Italy and Cyprus with high natural boron concentrations in their drinking water are, thus, finding that compliance with the new EU boron regulation is more difficult and expensive than originally anticipated. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

A large literature exists regarding explanations for the emergence of cooperation in the Mediterranean basin, but there is less information regarding the effectiveness of Mediterranean cooperation and its programs. Through a case study of Israel's implementation and compliance with the Barcelona Convention and the Mediterranean Action Plan, we evaluate the effectiveness of these international institutions. We find that international institutions and their efforts to target state capacity as the mechanism to improve compliance and effectiveness are often misguided unless their efforts are also directed towards enhancing societal capacity. We then explicate the way in which societal actors such as environmental NGOs can improve domestic compliance and effectiveness. These findings are illuminated through an assessment of the activities of several environmental NGOs in Israel to target Mediterranean pollution and coastal management policies. Where NGOs have taken action, they have often proved successful in forcing the Israeli government and the business sector to honor its environmental commitments.

Yael Parag,1 Tina Fawcett2 1School of Sustainability, The Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel; 2Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, Oxford, UK Abstract: Personal carbon trading (PCT) is a radical and innovative mitigation approach for the residential and personal transport sectors. PCT is an umbrella term for various downstream cap-and-trade policies, all of which aim to limit carbon emissions within a society by engaging individuals in the process, and could cover more than 40% of national carbon emissions. This policy idea is unique because it provides an overarching approach to personal emissions from energy use and because it combines a number of mechanisms to drive behavior change: economic, psychological, and social. This paper presents a review of research evidence and real-world experience of PCT. Most of the political interest, research, and experimentation with PCT has taken place in the UK. During 2006–2008, the UK government commissioned a number of studies on PCT, following high-level political interest. It concluded that public acceptability and the cost of the scheme were serious barriers to its introduction. However, a variety of other research work has subsequently demonstrated that public acceptability may not be such a barrier as feared. Nevertheless, there are a number of other barriers, including costs and technical challenges, some adverse distributional effects, and the low carbon capabilities of citizens. Probably the main barrier is the lack of political will currently to consider PCT as a real option. However, opportunities for PCT adoption could open up, particularly if governments fail to meet their carbon reduction targets. PCT is still an idea rather than an implementable policy – more research is needed to develop detailed scheme designs, which can be tested with regards to equity, effectiveness, cost, and efficiency. Other research requirements include understanding public conceptions of fairness in relation to climate change mitigation. Some interesting experimental research on PCT is currently taking place in Norfolk Island, Australia, but many research gaps remain. Keywords: emission reduction policy, residential energy